Police Allegedly Did Nothing About a Sexual Assault at a High School, According to a Viral Facebook Post

Law enforcement officials said the incident didn't meet the "criteria" for criminal charges.

Photo: Courtesy of Facebook/[Coppell High School](https://www.facebook.com/pg/CoppellHighSchool/photos/?ref=page_internal)

Late last week, Facebook user Nathalie Escudero wrote a viral post alleging that school officials in the Dallas area were covering up her cousin's sexual assault at Coppell High School in Texas. Soon after, police in the area also said they were not able to press charges because the incident didn't meet the "criteria" to be considered a criminal offense.

According to Nathalie, her cousin, whom she said has Asperger's Syndrome and didn't name publicly, was cornered in a high school bathroom by three classmates, who forced him to pull down his pants and "sexually manipulated" him. Nathalie alleged that they then took photos of her cousin, which were circulated on social media among their peers. "No one in the school wants to take action," she wrote. "They're covering it up since those three boys are set to graduate next week and the school doesn't want to deal with it." She explained that she believed it was a violation of Title IX, which grants student attending federally funded schools the opportunity to learn in a hostility-free educational environment.

NBC News reported that police, however, didn't press charges after they talked to all of the students involved. "Based on those interviews with all parties and other evidence that was reviewed it was determined that the incident in question did not meet the criteria for criminal charges," the Coppell police department said in a statement, BuzzFeed reported. Law enforcement officials didn't give any indication as to what they believe happened during the incident or how it potentially violated the law.

Coppell High School administrators also released a statement on the online allegations. "We would like to take the opportunity to assure our community that any and all allegations of sexual abuse/assault are taken seriously and investigations by Coppell ISD and the Coppell Police Department are being conducted in accordance to Board policy and the Student Code of Conduct," they wrote in a Facebook post. "Our number one priority is to provide a safe learning environment for all Coppell ISD students." The statement didn't elaborate on the initial Facebook post's claims of Title IX violations.

None of the students involved nor their parents have commented on the incident at this time.

Regardless of the Coppell High School case, sexual assault and sexual violence is prevalent among high school students (and even middle school students) nationwide. One report from the Department of Justice released in 2009 found that almost one in five teenage girls ages 14 to 17 was sexually assaulted or was the victim of an attempted sexual assault, and in 2014, the American Psychological Association reported that around 35% of sexual assaults happen when the victim is between the ages of 12 to 17.